The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1887-03-09
SHOOTING" AN OIL WELL.
RAISING PETROLEUM FROM IT'S
UNDERGROUND PRISON.

VII Aet&lUus-fh 1utuE1 As
TO the Origin OF OIL.
For two hours recently, writes Samuel
p. Leland in the Chicago Tribune, l stood
in a bleak wind to witness tho process of
shooting an oil-well This is accom-
plished by letting down with a strong
wire on windlass tin tubes about three
inches in diameterand fourteen feet long,
filled with nitro-glycerine. Each of
these tubes will hold about twenty quarts
of the liquid. If the blast is to be made
at the bottom of the we'll then the first
can or tube is let down to rest upon the
bottom, but il the stratum Of rocks which
1t is desired to shoot b. above the
bottom, as is frequently the case, then
smaller tubes are fastened upon the first
charged tube for a support. These may
be thirty or fifty feet long, or even more.
The lower end Of this tube. of course,
rests on the bottom OF the well, and sus-
tains the charged tubes, which are care
fully let down one upon the other until
sixty, eighty, or even 100 quarts are thus
deposited. In doing this every move
ment must be made with the utmost care,
and is attended with great danger.
The liquid weighs about four pounds
to the quart, hence a great weight must
be provided for On the upper end of
the topmost tube an eXplo i've cap is
placed. The charge is exploded by drop
ping an iron slug, called, in the nomen-
clature of the oil country. a "go-devil." !"
Cautious persons Keep at a good dis
tance. The operator gives the alarm
and lets the slug drop. In a we'll 9, 900
feet deep, filled with gas or oil. the
weight may be twenty or even twenty
five seconds in descending. If the we'll
is clear, of course its descent is more
rapid. The first sensation one feels is a
heavy thud, like the dropping of great
weight on the rocks. The next a trem-
bling of the ground, and then a rushing
roar. followed by slight explosion, and
a stream of sand, oil, water, pulverized
"go-devil," and tubes, and black gas
goes shrieking into the air in a dense
column a hundred feet or more, and all
is over.
If the blast is an effective one it is i'm
mediately followed by a flow of oil or
gas. Often a dead and worthless well
will at once begin to flow after the shock.
One we'll near Butler that was dead and
thought worthless was awakened to
activity by a heavy blast and rewarded
the owner with flow of 700 barrels of
oil daily
A sixty-quart blast costs the owner of
the well about 800, including the labor
of placing it. This labor, as has been
said, is attended with great danger
Sometimes, when the well is full of gas,
the torpedo, after descending few hun
dred feet, will be driven violently out OF
the well. In that case it is certain to
explode by hitting the timbers of the
derrick or when it reaches the ground in
its descent. In either case general de-
struction of everything is certain.
Sometimes upon the explosion of tor
pedo in a well, large volume of oil is
thrown into the air. This is often a sight
of surprising beauty, the oil breaking as
it falls into countless drops, and each
drop becoming a prism to reflect the
suns rays in matchess coloring.
So far the gas wells and oil wells are
treated alike.
About the origin of oil and gas there
has been much speculation. The surface
indications are very unreliable. Some no.
ton, however, may be formed from a
knowledge of the geological structure of
the rocks underlying a country. For in
stance, the gas and oil regions OF Penn
syivania are on the central beds of the
Devonism system, or old red sandstone,
made famous by the writings of Hugh
Miller. As is we'll known this formation
is below the carboniferous system, in
which are the coal measures. Long ago
the notion was abandoned that the oil
and gas come from coal. 1t is much
more probable that they have an animal
origin. The early seas were prolific of
life, and the unsubstantial crust of the
earth readily yielded to the volcanic
forces. This caused continents and seas
to frequently change places. By these
upheavals OF the ocean beds the waters
were driven with great violence out
ward. carrying measureless masses of
the shell fishes and crustaceans into the
great estuaries and burying them under
beds of sand and mud. These beds
hardened into rocks. In these deposi-
tions, the sand being heavier than the
mud, naturally fell to the bottom. This
accounts for the fact that in nearly all
oil borings a rock of slate or shale is
passed before reaching the oil sand.
These vast beds of carboniferous
matter, closely sealed, generated "spon-
taneous heat" and so intense was this
heat that the oil was literally tried"
out of the organic forms. This oil was
deposited in great basins. or mixed with
the vast beds of sand. The weight of
the superintendent crust of the earth
makes the wells flow, if the oil is abund-
ant. If not, the pump must be used.
Add to this material water and at
mospheric air, and gas is produced by
the same process. And such gas, too, as
the wells produce-rich in carbon, but
largely lacking nitrogen; hence this gas
is good for fuel, but has not the proper
qualities for Illuminating purposes.
Knowing so much, we have, at least, a
slight guide. The gas formation in
Pennsylvania, stretching from Bradford
on the north, in an irregular line, with
varying width, to Washington County
on the south, lies on what geologists
call an "incline."
A Costly Note.
The Marquis de Santiago, who is